Using adobe for house construction utilizes one of the world's most energy-efficient materials, earth. Recent research shows that the construction of homes, using common, contemporary materials and techniques, impacts the environment more than any other industrial activity. Research also confirms that earthen walls use only 10 percent of the embodied energy of ordinary house walls. Building homes with earthen walls, therefore, burdens the environment at a lower level than any other home building method and uses less embodied energy from the outset. A well-built earthen home can outperform with regards to durability, thermal dynamics, longevity, and structural integrity to a well-built timber frame home. Timber frame construction is the most common method of home building in the so-called developed world. Adobe walls have better thermal dynamics than conventional timber-frame buildings, i.e., warm in the winter, cool in the summer.
The R-value of a material is its ability to resist changes in temperature, or in simpler terms, how good of an insulator it is. (Polystyrene, for example, has a very high R-value). Mud brick walls have a fairly low R-value of 0.4, meaning that heat will transfer through the brick over time. Brick veneer has an R-value of 0.46 and double brick 0.56, meaning they will absorb slightly less heat than a single-skinned mud brick wall.
Thermal mass is how much energy or heat a material holds. Mud brick has a high thermal mass, meaning that when the brick heats up, it holds its heat and releases it slowly. In a well-designed solar passive mud brick home, winter sun heats the mud bricks during the day. This heat is held in the brick and released during the night, keeping the home warm. Conversely, sun is kept off the mud brick walls during summer so they stay cool during the day and night.
The use of earthen materials in building construction is thousands of years old. However, certain difficulties are known to inhere in such constructions, particularly, in providing conduits for plumbing and electricity, and also in providing sufficient reinforcement. The use of scaffolding has also not been known in adobe construction.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an adobe construction and method therefore that can address these problems.